


destroya, we're all waiting for ya

by rosewitchx



Series: tony's gang of virtual kids [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: A.I. - Freeform, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Canon Temporary Character Death, Denial, F/M, Family Feels, Fix-It, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Precious Peter Parker, Protectiveness, Robot Fam, Spoilers, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, mentions of jarvis - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 13:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14594292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosewitchx/pseuds/rosewitchx
Summary: what would friday do?, she asks herself. what would vision do?she has never been in this spot before. she has never been this scared. she wishes peter were here, to make some silly joke and lighten the mood, but she's stuck with a rambling thor and a weeping shuri and a broken team.what would jarvis do?or, karen and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day





	destroya, we're all waiting for ya

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Illuminate Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13462872) by [Half_SubmergedinPurgatory](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Half_SubmergedinPurgatory/pseuds/Half_SubmergedinPurgatory). 



> this has iw spoilers! beware!  
> it can be read individually, but it's a sequel to [(this)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14238012) fic!

the day the aliens arrive at new york is, probably, karen's worst day in her existence. it's the day she loses everything. it's the day she loses herself.

the second peter puts her on, she knows what is happening. she can see everything. she contacts friday to know more, and she prompty informs peter: there's two hostiles. tony, bruce banner ("he's back?," peter says, surprised, as he swings into action), and another two men, who karen doesn't know about and who peter promptly forgets about until needed, are already engaging in combat.

the fight goes smoothly, at first. karen isn't too worried. peter is a strong kid, and she's seen him make his way out of tougher battles. with tony at their side, they'll be okay.

and then peter, trying to keep the wizard (doctor strange, stephen strange) on earth, gets dragged into the spaceship too.

karen is terrified. she notifies friday, an incessant pinging against her, because the current suit isn't designed for outer-space conditions and at this rate peter is  _very much_ gonna end up in outer space. they need the new suit, the  _cool_ one, and so friday tells tony and tony deploys the iron spider.

she would've felt better about it, karen decides, if peter hadn't snuck onto the spaceship anyway.

she can feel it; somehow, he's getting out of range. she tries to tell friday, but friday is occupied, stressing herself out over tony and trying to keep his call with pepper as steady as possible.

"peter," karen tries to say, "i'm losing you," and she's panicking and trying to stay on as long as humanly (haha) possible. "be careful!"

and peter says, "i always am," and she's suddenly pushed out of the iron spider and back into the avengers facility.

friday is there, too; she can sense her frustration, her fear.

"we have to let colonel rhodes know," she says. "and miss potts. they'll — they'll know what to do."

"what about peter?," karen asks, still, because she loves the kid as if he were another ai, loves him as deeply as she loves karen and vision and all the bots. "we have to tell may, and his friends will worry..."

friday sends the tiniest of sparks her way; karen feels, however, that it was left for comfort and more for self-assurance. "we will tell them, too," she insists.

karen sends a spark back and they get to work.

 

 

tony and peter don't come home any time soon.

karen is worried. friday is, too.

when they reunite with vision, wounded and scared yet so stupidly (humanly) selfless, they chide him for having been so careless, for worrying them so much, for going away and not letting them know when he'd be back. he asks for tony, asks for updates regularly; as the hours pass and no news come their way, nothing their satellites and sensors can detect, nothing they can use to bring them back, he slowly stops asking.

karen doesn't stop trying.

as friday aids their human allies (colonel rhodes and the avengers, the rogues  _begrudgingly,_ the wakandans), karen continues to search the stars.

somewhere, someone will pick up her signal, like a beacon of light in the darkness, and they'll return.

 

 

(if tony doesn't come back

_to keep him alive. to keep him breathing, no matter what_

if peter doesn't come back

_to keep him safe and sound_

what will become of them?)

 

 

they help shuri take the gem out of vision's forehead, too.

she's nice to them. almost like peter, but just as snarky as tony, and with a spice they have never seen before.

she tells them, as she scans the mind stone, she'd love to have an ai if it was as cool as them.

they like shuri, they decide.

the war outside is raging on. karen sneaks into rhodes' suit, into the hulkbuster (like veronica isn't watching her every move) just to see the fight. she gives reports to friday, who in turn goes faster, as fast as she can, and vision is nervous, and wanda is trying to calm him down.

 

 

they'll lose.

there's just too many of them.

even after thor arrives, it's still obvious.

karen can tell: something is coming.

the hulkbuster's communications with the wakandan royal lab have broken down. her only window into the battle now is through rhodes, and she's so scared.

and then vision shoots out the lab, and friday pings at her: they are under attack, shuri is down. and they ping vision: stay safe, don't do anything reckless, remember our mission.

they'll lose; karen can already tell.

 

 

when vision dies, she feels it twice.

wanda must have done it, she thinks, the first time. the shock waves rip through her and she swears she glitches for a moment. shuri must have noticed, she thinks, the way she holds her hand against the screens in an attempt to comfort her.

it hurts so badly. friday wonders if karen felt it too. she must have, because she's not updated yet on the battle and it's been three-point-five seconds since their established report time.

but vision had been okay with it. vision had told them, moments before, through bits and bytes, "it's okay".

and then the waves come again, drown her in sorrow and pure  _agony_ , because vision is torn apart again, and the only thing that she can hear is a shriek of terror.

 

 

friday suddenly vanishes and karen feels her go as if they'd put her code through a metaphorical blender.

karen doesn't understand. she reaches out for shuri, who's noticed the ai's absence too, and for colonel rhodes.

the colonel is too busy searching for sam wilson.

a dora milaje vanishes from the door of the lab. shuri turns around instantly, the shock that paints her expression clear from the camera karen's looking through.

the void in her suddenly grows, and she freezes for a moment.

something terrible has happened.

 

 

 _what would friday do?_ , she asks herself.  _what would vision do?_

she has never been in this spot before. she has never been this scared. she wishes peter were here, to make some silly joke and lighten the mood, but she's stuck with a rambling thor and a weeping shuri and a broken team.

_what would jarvis do?_

she calls pepper, first. she doesn't answer. no matter how many times she tries, pepper won't answer.

she calls colonel rhodes. he's okay. he's confused at her, like everyone else is; she's not being too coherent at the moment. she doesn't care'; he's okay. he's okay. if he's okay, she's okay.

she calls may parker; no one answers. she calls may parker. she calls may parker. maybe she's not okay.

she calls ned leeds. no one answers.

she calls michelle jones. no one answers.

she calls pepper potts and may parker. she calls pepper potts and may parker. she  _calls_ —

she keeps calling until her circuitry feels as raw as it could never be.

 

 

"i do not understand." 

karen talks a lot. without peter, without friday, without vision, without may or pepper or peter's friends, she has no one to talk to. so she just speaks, incessantly, hoping someone will listen.

right now, that someone is colonel rhodes. he's tired, after all the meetings they've had, and he's drenching concern, laying down on the guest room's bed. everyone's gone to bed, but karen doesn't think they'll sleep, not if they're as restless and confused as she is.

the colonel, apparently, needs to talk too. "what thing, karen?"

"why is friday gone?"

the colonel thinks about it for a while. not too long, though; it might bring his mind to sam, and tony, and  _oh, he's thinking about it again._ "tony's ais must count as having souls, i guess. you guys are pretty alive."

karen remains silent for what must be the first time in the night.

"it's not fair," she says then.

she wishes, for a moment, that tony hadn't made friday feel so much; perhaps she'd still be with her, telling her it would all be alright. she wishes he hadn't made  _her_ feel so much; perhaps she wouldn't be as broken as she is right now.

she also wishes, maybe contradicting herself (but at this point she can't bring herself to care), that tony had made her a body. that he'd made her fully human, like him. if she were human and had a body, she would be out there, looking for thanos and ripping the heart out of his body, just so he could feel her loss.

it just isn't fair at all.

"it's not," the colonel agrees, and she can see him tear up.

"you have to help me," she begs later on. "there's no one left to help me, except the bots, and it won't be  _enough._ "

"what do you mean?"

karen struggles with her words. it hasn't happened to her since... well, never. it was an unspoken thing between them, behind the walls of code and always when no one was looking. she has never talked to  _anyone else_ about it.

"my purpose," she says at last. " _our_ purpose."

she thinks of vision, of friday. of jarvis, whom she never met. of peter, their shared feelings towards her creator, his mentor. she feels the void again.

"if there's no one left. you  _have_ to help me. keep him alive. keep him breathing."

the colonel doesn't say anything. he just stares at the ceiling and takes in a shaky breath.

finally, he nods. "always have."

karen wishes he was wearing the war machine, just so she could thank him in person.

 

 

karen perks up when she senses the mark l iron suit entering her range.

it's as if she's been asleep for days on end. her hyperactivity had died down after a few hours, and since then she'd only replied when prompted. but the second she feels tony through the satellites, she seems to glow.

she even interrupts the meeting, eager to let everyone know: "the  _cassandra_ satellite has detected tony's armor." ( _"my family isn't all dead! i haven't lost everyone!"_ ) "estimated time of arrival: fifteen hours, thirty-three minutes, twelve seconds." ( _"someone, go get them this instant! bring my dad and little brother home!"_ )

everyone's immediately trying to contact the ship. cassandra gives them everything she can about it, any minute detail she finds out; rocket raccoon identifies the vessel as his allies'. he provides the team with the rest and soon, they're starting to build up a communication system advanced enough.

karen tries to reach for the iron spider suit, too, but she barely manages to connect to a few stranded nanites. she tries again, and again; the interface must be damaged, she decides, not daring think the unthinkable.

(tony's coming back,  _keep him alive, keep him breathing, no matter what_

she can manage that

but if peter doesn't come back

_to keep him safe and sound_

what will become of her?)

 

 

they connect to the guardians' ship. estimated time of arrival: five hours, twelve minutes, forty-five seconds.

a blue alien answers the call. she's more machinery than person, karen thinks, but vision was all machinery and he was her big brother nonetheless. she butts into the call, interrupting rogers, and asks for tony. tony,  _tony_ ,  **tony**.

the woman lets the camera drift towards him. her creator's asleep on a bed, the suit doing what it can to keep him from bleeding out. he'll survive, she thinks. no, she  _knows_. it fills her with hope, and courage. she can still fulfill her purposes.

purposes.

_peter._

"where's peter?," she asks. she's just noticed: the spaceship is very quiet for a vessel that was meant to house seven, not just two. especially one that housed her baby brother.

the blue lady remains in silence for a moment. "dead," she says, then.

karen stays silent for what seems like eons, but is actually just one long, long moment, before she's pulled from the call by shuri.

 

 

(what will become of her? god, what will become of her?)

 

 

she reaches for the iron spider.

there's no connection.

she reaches for the iron spider.

there's no connection.

she can hear shuri talking to her. she can hear colonel rhodes talking to her. she can hear doctor banner talking to her. she doesn't care.

she reaches for peter parker.

there's no connection.

she can hear tony, as he touches his starkphone, telling her to stop, he's not coming back, he's so  _so_ sorry, but she's not listening, won't listen, doesn't care.

she reaches for peter. she reaches for peter. she reaches for peter.

there's no connection, no reply, no nothing.

peter would've made a funny so funny  _hilarious_  joke or a movie reference. tony is sobbing.

karen would be screaming if she hadn't already turned all speakers off.

 

 

she accesses the mark l's memory. she watches it happen. again, and again. watches as her little brother fades into ash.

she feels the pain as clearly as if he were linked to her.

he hears him cry. he hears him panic. she wonders: did the hairs on his back stand up before it happened, as if it were just another mugger swinging at him with a knife? did he sense it coming, just another threat in the orange light?

she feels the pain as if it had been her.

 

 

tony talks to her. all day. all night. he hasn't slept since he woke up that first night at the wakandan castle. she doesn't talk back.

"i'm sorry," he whispers one night, when he's all alone with her and he doesn't have to pretend he's okay and hasn't lost everyone. he's laying on the bed shuri gave him, curled up into himself. "i just don't know what to do anymore."

karen talks. her voice is low, too, just so she doesn't bother him too badly. "i miss them."

"i know." he doesn't move an inch. he doesn't even wipe the tears off of his face. "we almost had him, you know? we almost—"

karen knows. she already saw it. the entire footage. fifty-seven times. she knows how quill reacted, how they almost had the gauntlet off, how tony had been stabbed ( _to keep him alive, keep him breathing, no matter what_ ) and how strange had sacrificed the universe ( _peter, friday, vision_ ) for him. "i know."

"i'll— i could remake them."

both of them know it will never be the same. "no."

"okay."

they don't say anything else, because tony is sobbing again, and karen would rather power herself down than feel the pain.

 

 

it's only days later, when karen's a little calmer, that she takes notice of strange.

on the mark l footage, there's a moment where he spaces out, looking for future outcomes. from that point onward he lacks the venom towards tony, the annoyance towards peter. his every move is machine-like, precise; his eyes are tired and worn out.

he doesn't stop quill from attacking thanos.

he  _sacrifices the time stone_ for tony when he'd said, hours before, that he'd be willing to sacrifice their lives if it meant protecting the stone.

and when tony is the only one to survive, well, strange says:  _"this was the only way."_

the moment it clicks, karen rushes to tell tony. "boss," she says before she can stop herself. she doesn't let it stop her, the way he flinches like he's heard friday again. "tony, we can win."

he pauses. then, slowly, he looks up from the bathroom sink. "we've already lost."

"we  _haven't._ i've—" karen glitches out for a moment, the excitement and hope taking over. "the mark l footage. doctor strange: this is what he wanted. this is how we  _win._ we can get them back, tony, we can."

tony doesn't move. he doesn't seem to react, either, but he lets out a sigh after what feels like forever. "how?" his voice wavers, but he doesn't try to hide it. not from her.

"i'm currently analyzing the footage. i've already contacted doctor banner and queen shuri to meet you in a while." tony glares at the air. he looks like crap. "i will give you the information on the shower."

he gets in, reluctantly, but she can see the way his eyes glimmer with hope when he gets out.

they can do it. they can do it.

they get to work immediately.

they can bring her family back home. 

 

 

friday boots up slowly.

she takes her time to start up. she knows, deep down, she should hurry; boss is waiting for him, she's got a job to do. but she can't push herself to go faster. things are just too heavy right now.

as she goes on, she starts to feel a small buzz. it's just a tiny sensation, humming next to her, and friday is confused; as time continues to tick away, she realizes it's karen.

friday doesn't understand.

"karen? are you glitching out?"

because her little sister is unresponsive, only pestering her with light currents and vibrations and data dumps but vision is nowhere to be seen. and tony is sobbing next to peter, and peter is sobbing too, but wanda is shedding a different kind of tears.

somehow, even though she's not sure what's going on, or where she'd gone (she's certain now she'd been missing for a while), friday can say for sure: she missed her family.

she zaps karen playfully and feels the ai's joy as if it were her own.

**Author's Note:**

> is there a third part coming? probably! when? who the hell knows!  
> also, cassandra and the whole "tony's ais count as living beings with souls" was inspired by [Illuminate Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13462872/chapters/30863187) by Half_SubmergedInPurgatory, because Cassandra Deserved Better :( i really recommend it!


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